Politics

  COPENHAGEN / AP Denmark’s cybersecurity agency sees Russia as “a leader” when it comes to hacking, saying that the country has for “a long time invested intensively in its cyber capabilities.” The Danish position is similar to that reached by others in the Nordic region where national security agencies recently have pointed fingers at Russia for illicit online activities. ...

  KABUL / AP An Afghan official says NATO drone strikes killed 11 IS militants, including two senior commanders, in the eastern Nangarhar province. Mohammad Hussain Mashraqiwal, a spokesman for the provincial police chief, identified the two commanders killed in Wednesday’s strikes as Mohammed Omar Sadiq and Omar Farooq, adding that another six people were wounded. US Navy Cpt. Bill ...

  YANGON / AP A Malaysian ship carrying 2,300 tons of food and medicine to help members of Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority arrived in Yangon on Thursday as rights groups accuse the army of mass killings, rapes and other crimes targeting the ethnic group. The “Food Flotilla for Myanmar” arrived following a sweeping counterinsurgency campaign in Rakhine state, where ...

  BEIJING / AP China praised US President Donald Trump on Thursday for expressing a desire for a “constructive relationship” in a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping, even though the leaders have not spoken directly since Trump’s inauguration. Trump sent belated well-wishes for the Lunar New Year in a letter from the White House on Wednesday. He had been ...

  WASHINGTON / AP Two US government-funded news outlets are launching a global Russian-language TV network aimed at providing an alternative to slick, Kremlin-controlled media that critics say spread propaganda and misinformation. Current Time, run by Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with help from Washington-based Voice of America, is targeting Russian speakers across the globe with round-the-clock programming intended to ...

  SAN FRANCISCO / AP A federal appeals court will decide whether to reinstate President Donald Trump’s travel ban after a contentious hearing in which the judges hammered away at the administration’s motivations for the ban, but also directed pointed questions to an attorney for two states trying to overturn it. It was unclear which way the three judges of ...

  KABUL / AP Gunmen killed six employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the aid group said, adding that two other staffers were missing. The eight-person team was delivering livestock materials near the northern town of Shibirghan, capital of the Jowzjan province, when the gunmen attacked their convoy, it said. “We condemn ...

  MOSCOW / AP A Russian court on Wednesday found opposition leader Alexei Navalny guilty in the retrial of a 2013 fraud case, which formally disqualifies him as a candidate for president next year. However, the first time Navalny was convicted, his sentence was suspended and he was allowed to be a candidate for mayor of Moscow. An associate said ...

  WARSAW / AP Poland’s ruling party leader says his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel were held in “good atmosphere” and that he believes her visit will bring “good results.” Poland’s most powerful politician, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, met with Merkel late Tuesday during her half-a-day visit to Warsaw. TVN24 on Wednesday showed him kiss Merkel’s hand in greeting, a vanishing, ...

  ANKARA / AP CIA Director Mike Pompeo will visit Turkey on Thursday in his first overseas visit to discuss security issues, including Turkey’s fight against a movement led by a US-based cleric accused of orchestrating a failed military coup, Turkish officials said, in a sign of improving relations between the allies. Pompeo’s visit was decided during a 45-minute telephone ...